Carp's 65 Nova Thread

[Carp]

So, I've got the new daily driver. It's a 1965 ChevyII Nova. It's got the inline 6 and powerglide transmission. Only has 73k miles. Nice car, fun to drive, makes decent power and drives great. Not sure what all I'm gonna do to it, but mostly gonna drive it all over the place.

 

[89s rule]

Sweet, glad to see someone else get a inline 6 Chevy. I have a few parts laying around still if your interested n them, been meaning to get rid of them but havent taken the time.

Have a set of nice plug wires, a MSD Dist, and a flex fan. Probably have more but thats all I can remember off the top of my head.

 

[jfz80]

Nice looking ride Carp !!! got lockers?

 

[Carp]

Been driving the Nova since I got it, pretty much everyday, unless it's my turn to drive carpool, at which point I drive the 60 and the air conditioned luxury.

The Nova had been idling rough lately, so I thought I would check the timing/carb to see if I could smooth things out. Thing was timed at 0° or TDC. Moved it to ~6-7° BTDC and the car runs real nice now. Lots more power and smoother at all speeds. Adjusted the idle with the lean drop method, (thanks Toyota FSM) and it seems to be doing much better now. Going to give it a new set of plugs, wires, and filters to see if I can help it along a little more. Might even throw an HEI in there to make the spark a little more reliable.

Now on to the oil leaks!

 

[89s rule]

I still have those l6 parts if your interested.

 

[dbenke]

Carp, check your dwell first,(35 - 40) then set your timing ahead until you get a spark knock, then retard it a couple of degrees. I've seen them up to 14-15 degrees with out any knock. Lots more power and fuel economy. Be aware of your temp, though. Too much timing can make it go up.

DUI is the way to go!!!

 

[Gundy]

I really like those years. Best body style. In line 6 is a nice engine. Low grunt
is nice. Heck....somebody ought to copy it and stick it in a 4 wheel drive truck.
What?...Toyota beat me to it.
Ohm...chevy 6,chevy 6...Ohm......cruiser,cruiser,cruiser...Ohm...

 

[Carp]

The 16 MPG was getting to the wallet, and Dad had T5 overdrive manual transmission sitting at his house, so I'm going to replace the powerglide with the manual. This motor has a lot of oil leaks (probably original gaskets), so I'm going to use this opportunity to replace gaskets, upgrade the 1bbl carb, and the exhaust. Found a company that makes nice cast headers for the inline. Going to get a set of these and we'll see how they look on a Toyota head as well. Probably go back stock otherwise, since I want the least amount of downtime.

Got this project started over the Thanksgiving weekend. Started with a compression test to see if I had any concerns. Cold numbers showed all cylinders above 120psi, except #5 at 95psi. Warmed the car up and tested again. All cylinders pulled over 140psi. Guess I should be OK in the bottom end, assuming that all of the individual cylinders look good.

Spark plugs looked OK, #2 was a little dark, will keep my eyes on it if everything looks OK.

Starting pic

Pulled the motor and trans together. Not too hard at all, just took my time and pushed the car back out from under the combo. No load leveler. Didn't get any pics in progress, I was kinda focused on not dropping the motor on the car.

Motor on floor.

It's a dirty beast.

I did have a little help:

Separated the trans from the motor yesterday and got the motor on the stand. Looking to pull the head this week and see how the valves, cam, cylinder wall look. Going to try to retain focus on the trans swap.

 

[89s rule]

Im loving it! I have a flex fan in the garage you cna have if you want it. Looking forward to more pics and updates! I always wanted to do a t5 behind the L6.

 

[Carp]

Thanks for the encouragement, Matt. I think I'll take you up on that flex fan offer, would really like to do an electric fan, but it might not be in the cards right now.

 

[Carp]

Got the headers in today. That look awesome and can't wait to see if they'll bolt up and work on a 2f.

* edit, the pic upload didn't work, gonna try something else

 

[Carp]

let's try this...

 

[Trollhole]

I'm curious as well. Sorry about not being able to meet you this weekend. I am however not going anywhere for the next couple weeks.

 

[89s rule]

Your doing like everything I wanted to do to my l6. You sure you don't want to get this billet MSD dizzy?

 

[Carp]

Going to try to retain focus on the trans swap.

It's not 4 months later and I still don't have this thing on the road. Focus on the didn't go so well for me, scope creep sunk in big time. Add to that fact that I'm definitely not working at JP speed and I'm a little frustrated. Nonetheless, I've got the long block back together (head job, new cam, lifters, pushrod, gears, HEI dizzy, etc.). Going to put the intake, carb, and exhaust on this weekend, adjust rockers, and try to put it back in the car next week, then comes the Trans update. Pics will follow this weekend once I get the engine finished up, I hope

 

[IndianDoc]

Nice looking ride Carp !!! got lockers?

you gotta be kidding his 60 is open-open and goes proud. Don't need no stinking lockers. Gotta love it!!!!! But that would be the height of irony to put a locker in the NOVA, could do great burn outs at the Sonic. By the way did the headers hook up to the 2F never did catch that or not????

 

[ClemsonCruiser]

Add to that fact that I'm definitely not working at JP speed and I'm a little frustrated. Nonetheless,

This is a good thing, means you are taking your time and doing thing properly

Keep up the good work.... it is a sweet ride

 

[Trollhole]

Pics or nothing happened.

 

[89s rule]

Updates? Video of you driving the t5?

 

[Carp]

I have driven it around town a few times, but don't have the carb works out yet. Gonna rebuild it soon. Hope to drive it to Marshall's parts swap.